Cam controlling mechanism in a pattern stitch sewing machine



June 15, 1965 ATSUO OHIRA 3,188,991

CAM CONTROLLING MECHANISM IN A PATTERN STI CH SEWING MACHINE F1196. Feb. 1, 1963 2 Sheets-Sheet l M J M ATSUO OHIRA 3,188,991

CAM CONTROLLING MECHANISM IN A PATTERN June 15, 1965 STITCH SEWING MACHINE 2 sheets-s eet 2 Filed Feb. 1, 1963 zdMw (MMM United States Patent 3,13%,9fi1 CAM CQNTROLLING MECHANISM IN A IATTEW STITCH SEWING MACHINE Atsuo Ohira, Kariya, Japan, assignor to Aichi Kogyo Kabushiki-Kaisha, Kariya, .liapan Filed Feb. 1, I963, Ser. No. 255,632 Claims priority, application Japan, Feb. 5, I962,

4 Claims. 112-158) This invention relates to a pattern stitch sewing machine, particularly to a pattern cam controlling mechanism in such a sewing machine. The object of the invention is to provide a pattern stitch sewing machine equipped with an improved cam controlling mechanism, in which a link mechanism, ratchet wheel mechanism or any other such complicated mechanism is dispensed with and any desired kind of pattern stitches may be readily selected by manually rotating a single dial.

In the accompanying drawing illustrating by way of example an embodiment of the present invention:

FIGURE 1 is a front view of the mechanism according to this invention;

FIGURE 2 shows a plan view thereof partly in section;

FIGURE 3 is a sectional view taken along line Iii-III of FIG. 2 as seen in the direction of arrow;

FIGURE 3a is an enlarged sectional view of a part of the pattern cams shown in FIGURE 3;

FIGURE 4 is a detail showing the inner face of a selecting dial;

FIGURE 5 shows a diagrammatic development of the circle V shown in FIGURE 4; and

FIGURE 6 shows a diagrammatic development of the circle VI shown in FIGURE 4.

Referring to the drawing, the reference numeral 1 designates a driving shaft having fixed thereto a worm or spiral gear 2, and 3 is an intermediate shaft having an intermediate spiral gear 4 loosely mounted thereon and meshing with said spiral gear 2, the shaft 3 being rigidly mounted in a frame 5 by means of a set screw 6. A cam disc 7 having a gear 7a meshing with a gear formed on one end of the boss of the gear 4 is provided on its upper and lower faceswith pattern cams 7b and 7c, respectively. The cam disc 7 is loosely mounted on a stud 8 which is rigidly mounted in the frame 5 by means of a set screw 9. An actuating shaft and contact finger assembly is provided which has upper, and lower actuating shaft-s 1d and 11 axially slidably mounted at their ends in the frame 5, and springs 12 and 12' are wound around said shafts and 11, respectively. Rotatable contact fingers 13 and 14 are mounted on said shafts it) and I1, respectively, at positions in which they slightly compress said springs 12 and I2. Spring action of the springs 12 and 12 is taken up by the snap rings 15 and 16, respectively.

The ends of the springs 12 and 12' are fixed to the frame 5 and to the contact fingers 13 and 14, respectively, so that said springs 12 and 12 act as biasing means to normally hold the contact fingers out of contact with the cams 7b and 7c, respectively. A counter shaft 17 and a main shaft 18 are rigidly mounted in the frame 5 by means of set screws 19 and 2% respectively. A U-shaped connector 21 is rotatably mounted on the countershaft 17; On the main shaft 18 there is rotatably mounted an intermediate body 22, which is prevented from axial movement by means of snap rings 26 and 27. On the main shaft 18 there is fixed by means of a set screw a link 24, to which is pivoted as at 24a width regulating element 23. The intermediate body 22 has two arms 22a and 22b, and a width controlling arm 28 fixed thereto by means of a screw 2a. The arm 22a has an adjusting 3,l3,99-l Fatented June 15, 1%65 screw 22a, and at its free end there is a pin 22a". An oscillating rod 31 having a pin 36 is associated with a needle bar supporting arm (not shown), and a tension spring 32 connected thereto is secured at its other end to the frame 5. Said tension spring 32 acts upon the oscillating rod 31 so that the width regulating element 23 swings around the pin 24a and the intermediate body 22 swings around the main axis 13 in the counterclockwise direction as seen in FIG. 1. The arm 22:; serves to actuate the U-shaped connector 21 so as to press the contact finger 13, and the arm 22b serves to actuate the contact finger 14 so as to bring said contact fingers 13 and 14 into engagement with the pattern cams 7b and 7c, respectively. It is to be understood that the moment of the force urging the fingers 13 and 14 into engagement with the cams 7b and 70 as derived from the tension spring 32 is larger than the moment of the force urging the fingers I3 and 14 out of engagement with said cams 7b and 7c as derived from the springs 12 and 12'. An adjusting screw 33 provided in the frame 5 isfor adjusting the amount of movement of the contact fingers I3 and 14-. A manually rotatable control member in the form of a dial 34 is rotatably mounted in the frame 5 by means of the stud 35. This dial 34 is provided with three cam portions, viz. a contact finger lifting cam 34a, a contact finger feed cam 34b comprising a plurality of cam faces (a, b, c, 1', j, k) as shown in FIG. 5, and another contact finger feed cam 340 comprising a plurality of cam faces (in, no, 0, p, q) as shown in FIG. 6. The upper actuating shaft It) is adapted to engage with the contact finger feed cam 3452, while the lower actuating shaft 11 is adapted to engage with the contact finger feed cam 34c, and the pin 22a" is adapted to engage with the contact finger shifting cam 34a.

The operation of the mechanism of this invention is as follows:

In the positions of the parts as shown in the drawing, the contact finger 13 is in the position engaging with the cam face A of the pattern cam 71). Upon the rotation of the driving shaft 1 the cam disc 7 will be rotated through the intermediate gear and, according to the movement of the cam face A, the movement of the contact finger 13 will be transmitted through the U-shaped connector 21, the intermediate body 22, the width making arm 28 and the width adjusting element 23 to the oscillating rod 31, thereby giving an oscillatory movement to the needle bar supporting arm for zigzag motion.

Starting from the above mentioned position, for the purpose of obtaining a desired pattern by the employment of for instance the cam face B, the dial 34 is manually rotated for 2/ 1111- of a rotation in the direction of the arrow, so as to bring the contact finger 13 into engagement with the cam face B of the pattern cam 7b. (In the example shown, eleven kinds of cam faces A-L are formed on the pattern cam portions 7b and 7c of the cam disc '7.) By such movement of the dial 34, the pin 2241 will rise along the inclined face of the contact finger shifting cam 34a, thereby actuating the intermediate body 22 and the connector 21, and the contact finger 13 will be disengaged from the cam face A of the pattern cam 7b by the action of the spring 12. During said operation, the upper actuating shaft 10 merely slides on the fiat face of the cam face a of the contact finger feed cam 34b, and the contact finger I3 is not displaced axially of the upper shaft 10; the lower actuating shaft 11 will be disengaged from the bottom of the cam face In of the contact finger feed cam 34c and merely moves along the flat face thereof; and said lower actuating shaft Ill will not be displaced axially. When the manual rotation of the dial 34 proceeds and the 'pin 22a" arrives at the top of the contact finger shifting cam 3411, the upper actuating shaft will rise along the inclined face between point a and point b of the contact finger feed cam 34b, and the contact finger 13 will be transferred from face A to' face B of the pattern cam- 7b. Upon further rotation of the dial, when it arrives at the angle of rotation of 2/11'1r and the pin 22a" arrives at the top of the contact finger shifting cam 34a, the upper actuating shaft 10 will rise along the inclined face between point a and point I) of the contact finger feed cam 34b, and the contact finger 13 will be transferred from face B- toward face A of -the when it arrives at -the angle of rotation of 2/ 1111', the

pin 22a" is lowered toward the bottom of the cam face,

whereby the contact finger '13 will come into engage-t ment withface B of the pattern cam 7b due to the action of the tension spring 32; the upper actuating shaft 10 will 'rest on the flat faceof point bfof the contact finger feed cam 34b, and the lower actuating shaft 11 engages with the bottom of thecam point n of the contact finger feed camt34c-r Thus, the movement of the contact finger 1?: controlled according tothe variation, of the cam face of the pattern cam face B will be transmitted to the needle bar supporting arrnthrough the width making rod 31 in a similar manner as to that, already described. In this case, thelower actuating shaft 11 is held engaged with the bottom ofpoint n 'of the contact finger feed cam 340 by the action of the spring 12, so that there will not occurany undesirable rotation'of the dial 34 caused by slightvibration or shock'of the machine. From the foregoing it will be understood that 'by intermittent rotation of the dial 34 for s2/11irtpart of one rotation the point of contact of the control finger 13 and the-pattern cam 712 will be shifted inthe order B-C-D-E-F.

When the contact face F of the pattern cam 71;, the upper, actuating shaft 10 is on the flat face of point f of the contact finger feed cam 34b, and the lower actuating shaft 11 is in loose engagement with the bottom of point 'r of the contact finger feed cam 34c. Starting from said position, if the dial 34 is manuallyrotated for '2/111r part of one rotation in the direction of the' arrow, the pin 22a" will be shifted by means of the contact'fi'nger shifting cam-34a; both contactfingers 13 and 14 will be moved away from the pattern cams 7b"and 7cgthe upper actuating shaft 10 will risejalong the inclined face between point 1 and point g ,of 'the contact finger feed cam 34b and will reach the bottom of said'point g. At the same time, the lower actuating. shaft 11 willbe shifted tram p'oint'r to. points of the contact finger feed cam 340 by the action ofthe spring lz, and the pin 22a? :will be droppe d from the COP of the contact finger shifting cam to the bottom thereof by the action of the tensionispring 32. Thus, the'contact finger'13 will be disengaged from the cam face. F 'of the: pattern cam 7b, while thecontact finger 1'4 willbe brought in engagement with the cam faceG of thepattern cam 70.

Also in this case, any accidental rotation of the dial 34 finger 13 is'in contact with cam 34b and 34c may be shown by way of the following table:

Pattern stitch by A, 3 C D E F G H; I K L Contact finger; 13 13 1,3 13 13 13 14 14 14 14 14 Pattern cam 7b 13 O D E F Pattern cam 70. H I

Upper actuating I shaft 10' '10 10 10' 10 10 10 '10 10 10 10 Contract finger teed cam 34b a b c d, e f g h t It Lower actuating 1 shat 11' 11 '11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 Contact finger feed cam 34c m n 0 p q r s t LL- 0 10 From the above table, it will be, seentthat in case,

tact finger 13 contacts the cam face C of'saidpattern cam 75; the upper shaft 10 contacts-point c of the contact finger feed cam 34b; and the lower shaft 11 contacts point 0 of the contactfingerfeed cam/34c.

While in the foregoingthere is described an operation of the device in which the kind of pattern stitch is changed successivelytby manually rotating the. dial 34; intermittently, it is to be understood that accordingto this invention the said dial 34 may be rotated through two or more pitches, so that the pattern change is effected while omitting any undesired pattern cam face.

What I claim" is: t

1. In a pattern stitch sewing machine for utilizing a plurality of pattern cams, the combination of a driving shaft, a cam disc' having an axis perpendicular to the plane of the disc which axis'is'also perpendicular to the driving shaft, said cam disc having a plurality of concentric cam patterns on at least-one face thereof, an actuating shaft and contact finger assembly'mounted adjacent said disc cam andmovable in the axial direction of-the actuating shaftfor moving the contact finger fromone cam pattern to another, the;contact fingerbeing pivotable aboutsaid actuating shaft and; engageable with the cam patterns,-rne'ans biasing said assembly to move s aid contact finger outwardly of said cam disc, a manually rotat able controlling member. ina plane perpendicular to the plane of said cam disc 'andhaving a contact finger lifting cafn and a contact finger feed cam thereon, the contact finger feed cam; being engaged with said assembly for moving said assembly against the action of said biasing means, and contact finger liftingrneans engaged with said contactfinger lifting cam and with said contact finger for lifting. said contact fingerfrom engagement with said .Will be prevented,lsinceqthe upperha ctuating shaft'10 is in loose engagementjwith the bottom of point g' of the .contactfinge'r feed cam34b. a a

;While, in the foregoing, the manner. of controlling 'the contact of the ,contactfing'er 14 and the pattern cam '70 has been described, it should be understood that the reverse control may be similarly effected.

Taking theexample as illustrated, in which eleven kinds of cam faces -(A'F and ,G-L) 'are formed on the pattern cams 7b and 7c, the relative positions of the contact fingers 13 and 14, the upper and lower actuating shafts 10 and 11, and the contact finger, feed cams cam patterns prior to the shifting of said assembly when said manually rotatablecontrolling member'is rotated.

2. In a pattern stitch sewing machine for utilizing a plurality of patterncams, the'combination of a driving shaft, a cam disc'having an axisperpendicular to the plane of the disc which axis is also perpendicular to the driving shaft, said cam disc having: aplu-ralityof concentric cam patternson at least one face thereof, an actuating shaft and contact fingerassembly mounted adjacent said disc cam and movable in the axialdirection of the actuating shaft for moving the contact finger from one cam pattern' to anotheig the contact finger being pivotable about said actuating shaft and engageable with the cam patterns, means biasing said assembly to move said contact finger outwafdly of said cam disc, a manually rotatable controlling member in'a plane perpendicular to the plane, of said cam disc and having'a contact. finger lifting cam and a contact finger feed cam thereon, the can tact finger feed cam being engaged with said assembly for moving said asse'rnbly against the action of said biasing 'means, and contact'finger liftingmeans engaged with said contact finger lifting cam and with said contact finger for lifting said contact fingerfrom engagement with said cam patterns prior to the shifting of said assembly when said manually rotatable controlling member is rotated, said contact finger lifting means having a contact finger engaging member extending along the path of movement of said contact finger during movement of said assembly.

3. In a pattern stitch sewing machine for utilizing a plurality of pattern cams, the combination of a driving shaft, a cam disc having an axis perpendicular to the plane of the disc which axis is also perpendicular to the driving shaft, said cam disc having a plurality of concentric cam patterns on at least one face thereof, an actuating shaft mounted adjacent said disc cam and movable in the axial direction of the actuating shaft, a contact finger rotatably mounted on said actuating shaft and fixed against movement axially of the actuating shaft, the contact finger being engageable with the cam patterns, spring means engaged with said actuating shaft and contact finger and biasing said actuating shaft and finger outwardly of said cam disc, a manually rotatable controlling member in a plane perpendicular to the plane of the cam disc and having a contact finger lifting cam and a contact finger feed cam thereon, the contact finger feed cam being engaged with said actuating shaft for moving said shaft axially of itself against the action of said spring means, and contact finger lifting means engaged with said contact finger lifting cam and with said contact finger for lifting said contact finger from engagement with said cam patterns prior to the shifting of said assembly when said manually rotatable controlling member is rotated, said contact finger lifting means having a contact finger engaging member extending along the path of movement of said contact finger during movement of said contact finger with said actuating shaft.

4. In a pattern stitch sewing machine for utilizing a plurality of pattern cams, the combination of a driving shaft, a cam disc having an axis perpendicular to the plane of the disc which axis is also perpendicular to the driving shaft, said cam disc having a plurality of concentric cam patterns on both faces thereof, two actuating shafts, one mounted adjacent each face of said disc cam and movable in the axial direction of the actuating shaft, a contact finger rotatably mounted on each of said actuating shafts and fixed against movement axially of the actuating shafts, the respective contact fingers being engageable with the cam patterns on the respective sides of the cam disc on which the actuating shafts are positioned, spring means engaged with each actuating shaft and contact finger and biasing each actuating shaft and finger outwardly of said cam disc, a manually rotatable controlling member in a plane perpendicular to the plane of said cam disc and having a contact finger lifting cam and a contact finger feed cam thereon, the contact finger feed cam being engaged with said actuating shafts for moving said shafts axially of themselves against the action of said spring means, and contact finger lifting means engaged with said contact finger lifting cam and with each of said contact fingers for lifting said contact fingers from engagement with said cam patterns simultaneously prior to the shifting of said assembly when said manually rotatable controlling member is rotated, said contact finger lifting means having contact finger engaging members extending along the paths of movement of said contact fingers during movement of said contact fingers with said actuating shafts.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,043,252 7/6 2 Engel 11124158 3,064,602 11/62 Danno 112-158 3,067,702 12/62 Shimada 112-158 JORDAN FRANKLIN, Primary Examiner. 

1. IN A PATTERN STITCH SEWING MACHINE FOR UTILIZING A PLURALITY OF PATTERNS CAMS, THE COMBINATION OF A DRIVING SHAFT, A CAM DISC HAVING AN AXIS PERPENDICULAR TO THE PLANE TO THE DISC WHICH AXIS IS ALSO PERPENDICULAR TO THE DRIVING SHAFT, SAID CAM DISC HAVING A PLURALITY OF CONCENTRIC CAM PATTERNS ON AT LEAST ONE FACE THEREOF, AND ACTUATING SHAFT AND CONTACT FINGER ASSEMBLY MOUNTED ADJACENT SAID DISC CAM AND MOVABLE IN THE AXIAL DIRECTION OF THE ACTUATING SHAFT FOR MOVING THE CONTACT FINGER FROM ONE CAM PATTERN TO ANOTHER, THE CONTACT FINGER BEING PIVOTABLE ABOUT SAID ACTUATING SHAFT AND ENGAGEABLE WITH THE CAM PATTERNS, MEANS BIASING SAID ASSEMBLY TO MOVE SAID CONTACT FINGER OUTWARDLY OF SAID CAM DISC, A MANUALLY ROTATABLE CONTROLLING MEMBER IN A PLANE PERPENDICULAR TO THE PLANE OF SAID CAM DISC AND HAVING A CONTACT FINGER LIFTING CAM AND A CONTACT FINGER FEED CAM THEREON, THE CONTACT FINGER FEED CAM BEING ENGAGED WITH SAID ASSEMBLY FOR MOVING SAID ASSEMBLY AGAINST THE ACTION OF SAID BIASING MEANS, AND CONTACT FINGER LIFTING MEANS ENGAGED WITH 